It's that time of year again! Plans are already underway for this year's award-winning Cotton District Arts Festival, and it's destined once again to be a fantastic success! Each year, this highly popular festival draws tens of thousands of people from the surrounding area and region to enjoy its celebration of art and life, honoring music, dance, literature, cuisine, theater and art. Starkville's Cotton District will be packed with excitement - so mark your calendars now for April 21, because you are not going to want to miss a minute of the festivities!

Some of the best talent in the area can be found on this fun-filled day! The Cotton District Arts Festival will once again host all the great rivalries from years past, including our Poetry Slam, Student Art, and Taste of Starkville restaurant culinary selections ? and the ever-entertaining server relay race! Central to the festival is, as always, the Juried Art Competition: To be a winning artisan in the Juried Arts Competition at the CottonDistrict Arts Festival is no small accomplishment, and winners receive both local and regional recognition for their work. The Cotton District Arts Festival is first and foremost a celebration of community, and we are very proud of both the quality of the work and the number of pieces sold and enjoyed by those in attendance each year.

Come stroll through our "villages" and enjoy an abundance of local talent: The popular GSDP's Artisan's Village boasts outstanding pieces of work from our artisans; the Kiwanis' International Village features culture from foreign countries; and we welcome you to discover drama and literature in a whole new way with the Rotary's Writer's Village. Dog lovers and MSU fans can delight in the always adorable Spruill Properties Pet Parade; enter your pets, dress them up and show them off for all to see! For the athlete in you, the popular OCH Regional Medical Center Old Cotton Mill 5K run is a great way to start out your day at the festival.

And these events are just the tip of the iceberg in the depth and breadth of the creative and invigorating atmosphere at the Cotton District Arts Festival! For all you music lovers, in addition to the variety of art and food available to festival-goers at the festival, as always, there will also be the three music stages set up throughout the Cotton District, where state-wide and local musicians will entertain audiences of all ages from sun-up to sun-down. As a special treat this year, the 2012 Cotton District Arts Festival is thrilled to announce our highlighted musician, Charlie Worsham, who will be performing the closing act! A native of Grenada, Mississippi, Charlie's music covers a variety of genres and ages, and he has opened for such well-renowned artists as Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert. You can learn more about this up-and-coming artist at www.charlieworsham.com
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Be sure to come support our "newer" musical talent too, the winners of this year's McReynold's Orthodontics Songwriters Competition, back by popular demand! Picked from a wide variety of entries, both local and regional, these musicians will be selected by two panels of judges for their originality, melody, composition, structure, and lyrics.

But the Cotton District Arts Festival isn't for grownups only! Kids love the festival too, enjoying a multitude of activities including the Junior Auxiliary Children's Village, where they can take part in any number of artistic activities, the children's section of the Poetry Slam, a children's roving reporters activity, a children's poetry puzzle, and the Student Art Competition!

So, as you can see, there will be something for everyone at the 2012 Cotton District Arts Festival! Admission is free, so you can bring the whole family for a fantastic time at this highly popular day of food, art, music, fellowship, and fun. Also happening on this weekend, for all those Bulldog fans and sports enthusiasts, is the MSU Super Bulldog Weekend, and the internationally known, multi-award-winning country singing group, Sugarland, will be closing out the day's activities. Go to MSU's www.hailstate.com website for more information.

The Starkville Area Arts Council is proud to bring this festival to Starkville and appreciates the support of the City of Starkville, the Starkville business and organization community, the Greater Starkville Development Partnership, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Mississippi Arts Commission.